Sports writer for The Age

"It's been a rocking-rolling season, down and out and back he comes, can he finish it off with a goal? Billy, you are King of Geelong."

It's been 20 years since Sandy Roberts' perfect description of the night Billy Brownless broke the hearts of Footscray fans with a goal after the siren.

Alan Joyce, coach of the Bulldogs that night at the MCG, recalled this week the moment "Big Billy" stole a qualifying final that, just seconds earlier, Richard Osborne seemed to have won for the Dogs. "It was just demoralising. It's as simple as that," said Joyce, the former Hawthorn premiership coach who will award the Jock McHale Medal to the coach of this year's premiership team on grand final day.

Hours earlier that same day, a young Glenn Archer was on the field at Waverley Park when the siren sounded and another player had a pressure-packed set shot to win the qualifying final between North Melbourne (third) and Hawthorn (sixth). It was his teammate David King, then a first-year player, who held on to the ball for 10 agonising seconds before the siren went and the realisation set in that he would have to launch the ball 65 metres to register a score.

Advertisement

"I remember thinking I wished Kingy kicked a torpedo, because he was a beautiful kick of a torpedo, but he kicked the drop punt instead," said Archer, who will present the Norm Smith Medal at this year's grand final.

Despite his best Malcolm Blight impression, King's kick fell five metres short — forcing the first final of the top eight system just introduced that season into extra time.

Luckily for Archer, King and the rest of the North Melbourne faithful, another "King" came to the rescue. "The other clear recollection I have is, in the extra time periods, Wayne Carey just went absolutely berserk," said Archer, recalling how Carey was "the difference" that day kicking 4.4 to go with 32 disposals and 10 marks.

Nothing could have bettered that "Super Saturday", but the two qualifying finals played the next day gave it a shot, with seventh-placed Melbourne staging a thrilling upset over premiership fancy Carlton, thanks to five goals from Sean Charles.

Hours later in Perth, Collingwood (which finished the season in eighth spot) trailed minor premier West Coast by just two points with 10 seconds left when Gary Pert bombed a ball inside 50.

Had Magpie Mick McGuane not dropped a chest mark swooping in from the side of the pack, he too would have had a set shot after the siren to win the match.

And, as Collingwood coach at the time Leigh Matthews recalled this week: "Mick just didn't miss from 30 or 40 metres."

That weekend stands as the most exciting first week of finals since the top eight was introduced. But maybe the four finals that lie ahead this weekend have the potential to match 1994 for suspense and drama. Of recent times, Hawthorn and Geelong nearly always produce games decided by less than a kick. Sydney versus Fremantle pits the two teams best-known for turning games into contested-ball slogs. Port Adelaide and Richmond play the same hard-running, fast-flowing, attacking brand of footy. And North Melbourne and Essendon are two teams best-known this year for being consistently inconsistent.

As Archer put it: "There's not one of those games where you would say there is a certainty. There never is in finals, but this year in particular, it's seems pretty similar to 1994 where you would think all four games are going to be pretty close."

While the top four teams all seem capable of winning the flag this year, Matthews said the fact Richmond came into the finals on the back of a nine-game winning streak gave the 2014 series an edge.

"The unique thing about this finals series is Richmond ... beating the top team at home in the final round to get there, you've got to say that they are as well performed a side as you'll get finishing eighth," he said.